The Bobcats have extended a qualifying offer to Gerald Henderson in preparation for free agency beginning next week, but not to Byron Mullens. Ultimately, this means that Gerald Henderson will make at least $4.2mil (qualifying offer) next season, but another team can make an offer greater than that when free agency begins. Byron Mullens, on the other hand, now becomes an unrestricted free agent + most certainly won’t return to Charlotte.

So, it appears as if Hendo will be returning to Charlotte for at least one more season and stay at the starting SG position. There are many varying opinions of what Hendo is moving forward for this team + what his market value is throughout the league. He’s improved over his 4 seasons in Charlotte, but it’s been very slow. A great mid-range jumper who will also attack the rim with aggression, but still no threat from 3 + an underachieving defender at this point in his career. Hendo is a great example of a solid player who shouldn’t have to carry the offensive load he has in Charlotte for the past 2 seasons — it has fielded an increase in PPG, but as to just how much it’s helped him improve as an overall player is still somewhat unclear.

I have always been enamored with Mullens unique skill set for his size, but he’s as inefficient as any player in NBA basketball. Cho won’t ever get on-board with a player like that, and so here we are, not extending a qualifying offer to the guy that Charlotte only sacrificed a 2nd round pick for. To go along with that, the selection of Cody Zeller very well may have sealed the fate for Mullens — services no longer needed.

Ben Gordon will be back in Charlotte for at least one more season barring a trade. Gordon’s $13.2mil player option was more-or-less a foregone conclusion to be picked up by him, and, it has been. Gordon’s expiring contract could become valuable at the trade deadline for the Bobcats – Gordon would figure to being a scorer/shooter boost in the arm for a contending team headed into the post-season.

Lastly, Josh McRoberts future with the Bobcats seem to be up in the air at the moment. Especially after he stated that money is his first priority in free agency. No team in this league is dumb enough to give him anything over $4-5mil/year, and doubtful that it’ll reach that, but it’s still safe to assume that Charlotte will be as motivated as anyone to bring him back after his performance for the team late last season.